Epictetus: Just as Zeus lives for himself, reposes in himself, reflects on the nature of his government, occupies himself with thoughts which are worthy of him, so also should we be able to converse with ourselves, be able to do without others, and not be at a loss as to how we spend our time; we must reflect on the divine government, on our relations with the rest of the world, to consider what our attitude hitherto has been towards events, what it is now, what things affect us, how we might remedy them also, and how we might eradicate them.
Epictetus: the great difference between animals and humans is that animals do not have to look after themselves. They are provided with everything so that they can be of use to us. As for humans, they are living beings who must take care of themselves because Zeus has entrusted them to themselves, by giving them the reason which enables them to determine the use to which all the other faculties may be put. So God has entrusted us to ourselves, so that we have to look after ourselves. If now, instead of passing from animals to humans, we go from humans to Zeus, what then is Zeus? He is simply the being who does nothing else but attend to himself. Zeus is the being who lives for himself: the one who is forever himself with himself, reflecting on the nature of his own government, knowing his reason, the reason of God, and finally occupying hiself with thoughts that are worthy of him, conversing with himself.
The portrait of a sage who has achieved wisdom: Living in complete independence; reflecting on the nature of the government on exercises on oneself and on others; conversing with one's own thoughts; speaking with oneself. Whereas the sage has arrived at this progressively, by stages, Zeus is put in this position by his very being. Zeus is the one who has only to take care of himself. We should be able to converse with ourselves, know how to do without others, not be at a loss as to how we spend our time. We must reflect on our relations with the rest of the world. We must meditate on these different things: 1) attitude towards events; 2) what things affect us; 3) how might we remedy them; 4) how might we eradicate them? These are the four great domains of the exercise of thought in Epictetus.
In Plato's case, the truth grasped is ultimately that essential truth that will enable us to lead other men. In the case of Stoics, it won't be a gaze directed towards the reality of essences, but one directed towards the truth of what we think. It also involves knowing if we will be able to act according to this tested truth of opinions, and if we can be the ethical subject of the truth that we think. The Stoics have several exercises for responding to this question , the most important of which are the exercise of death and the the examination of conscience.
A fundamental theme in the practice of the self is that we should not let ourselves be worried about the future. The future preoccupies. We are occupied in advance. The mind is pre-absorbed by the future, and this is something negative.
Thinking about past has a positive value.
The man of the future is the person who, not thinking about the past, cannot think about the present and who is therefore turned towards a future that is only nothingness and nonexistence, who allows what he is doing to be consumed by something else as he does it.
Seneca, Letter 99: We are ungrateful for benefits already obtained, because we count on the future, as if the future, supposing it falls to us in turn, must not swiftly join the past. He who limits the object of his pleasures to the present extremely contracts the field of his satisfactions.
The Stoics say, a man who is suddenly surprise by an event is really at risk of finding himself in a weak position if he is not prepare for it. First of all, we must assume that mot just the most frequent evils may happen to us, those that normally happen individuals, but that anything that can happen to us will happen to us.
Seneca, Letter 91: The person who said it only needs a day, an hour, or a moment to overturn the greatest Empire of the world has still granted too much time.
Seneca, Letter 24: Get it clear in your mind that whatever event you fear will happen without fail.
We should remove the mask not only from men but also from things, forcing them to take on their true appearance again.
An old Stoic aphorism: Either a pain is so violent that you cannot bear it, or a pain is bearable.
No comments:
Post a Comment